November 8, 2007

Monitor Correspondent Suzanna Koster interviewed the former Pakistani Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, in Islamabad on Tuesday. Bhutto returned to Pakistan last month after eight years in exile as part of a potential power-sharing deal with Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf.

Since Musharraf's declaration of a "state of emergency" and the jailing of hundreds of political leaders, Bhutto has emerged as a leading figure in the opposition movement. On Tuesday evening, police used tear gas and batons to disperse lawmakers from Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party. The protesters were demanding that the emergency order be revoked. On Wednesday, the former prime minister invited all political parties to join her on a "long march" from the eastern city of Lahore to the capital Islamabad if Musharraf does not restore the constitution, hold elections, and resign as army chief.